Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: New Song, New Season

Episode Date: October 11, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee tee up the Maple Leafs season opener against the Canadiens! They begin with a look into their fourth-line pairings as Fraser Minten makes his highly touted debut and discuss if Tyler Bertuzzi could be the better choice over Michael Bunting alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Then, the guys tackle Jake McCabe playing with John Klingberg on defence, and other standouts from training camp along with the biggest change for the upcoming season: a NEW goal song. Leafs radio analyst Jim Ralph jumps on (32:25) to give us an outlook on the goaltenders, and if the added toughness to the roster will change the character of the hockey club. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens mere hours away from taking center stage at Scotiabank Arena to launch their NHL season. Five other Canadian teams on tap and we are here to get you ready. I'm Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jen Rolnick and Derek Brandeo somewhere in the mothership and we are the real Kipper and Born show just note we are of course live on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and Sportsnet Plus from 4 to 6 Eastern and Sportsnet 360 just from 4 to 5 Sammy that's got to do with the Braves and Philly

taking over Sportsnet 360, correct? Correct. 507 first pitch between the Braves and Philly's big one tonight. And you can always download us on any platform, iTunes, Spotify. And remember to send us a text at 590-590. Yes, do that. You want in on the conversation conversation you got something to say sammy will pick it up and we'll make sure only if it's worthy i mean to get it into the show we get

a lot of bad ones every day is that right not that many but a few yeah all right daily couple toronto and montreal uh is this not the fourth or fifth year in a row that these two guys have opened up the season? Yeah, I think when the league schedule guy starts, that's like the first thing he does. He's like, okay, pencil that one, sorry, pen that one in, sharpie it in, everything else can fall in behind it, which is exciting. And no matter where these teams are,

and we know tonight it's the rebuild of the Montreal Canadiens versus the must-win now Toronto Maple Leafs. They're still always close games. Yeah, well, listen, unfortunately, that's the case. The Leafs are supposed to be running away with these games. They have not been historically. I think maybe the last three in overtime. You know what's tough, though?

Pittsburgh goes out last night. Chicago comes in, supposed to be a bottom feeder like it's the nhl like everyone's fresh everyone's playing hard there's no easy games i i specifically remember a game where they were i think the least were down four one or like three one in the third period and there's a weird balance off the glass that favored the leafs they ended up coming back and winning like the habs actually bad teams in general the leafs sometimes struck away yeah right like it just feels like this is such a rivalry game they always play well to mention the leafs also puked away an exhibition game against montreal and went to overtime and lost already this year so let's not take this one for granted and they did that to

the red wings but they ended up winning and right and pulled that one out a lot of juggling with the salary cap. The Leafs managed to end up with an extra body. McMahon, extra. Simone Benoit up as an extra defenseman, if I'm not mistaken. And Eason Cowan practiced with the London Knights today. Okay. We got the hockey team now. Fraser Minton playing on a line with Matthew Knies and Callie Yarncroft and your first thoughts on that line being essentially the checking line the shutdown

line to start this season is that what they essentially are what else is there left to conclude here I said what's a great question it's you know for years we've been saying about this Leafs team that their third line should eat alive the other team right that was the whole it's going to be cappin and johnson and cadre at center and their third line is going to be great this is another iteration of a third line where i don't know i don't know that they're going to outscore the opposition i guess they can out defend them but it's tough with a couple of rookies you expect them to make some mistakes what was the rookie stat that you gave me before the show borny uh was it the rookie stat or the waivers one well no well i mean we could talk about that one too but the rookies in terms of

how many rookies are actually in lineups for teams that win the cup it's very minimal so the last five years of the cup champions vegas had zero rookies in their lineup uh anthony patrilli wrote this so i stole that from him but vegas had zero colorado had one rookie alex note new hook tampa bay had zero rookies and then one rookie in ross colton and st louis was the only team that had two rookies in the last five years and you know sammy blade didn't play half the games the point is you can't have a lot of rookies in key spots and expect to contend all right over the last few years we've gone to Kippers Clippers led by Sheldon Keefe for the first time this season. We will be led with a Kippers Clipper

from Brad Treeliving on Minton making it to the big squad. Ghost roster, Marley's other. He was an other. You know, you say every year now my my my situation this year is a little

different because i i'm to steve's question i'm learning everybody right normally you come into camp there's three phases there's okay you see the big guys move around and sort of where they're at then there's the guys that have been in the organization younger players couple years pro what steps have they taken and then you look at the young the young kids and just sort of say what do we have he he started in in in Traverse City and he we talk about you know making an impression he built good day upon good day upon good day upon good day um and it's rewarding when you can say hey work your way onto the roster. The reality is, especially when you're a good team,

it's hard to get on the roster. It's like an exclusive club. It should be hard to get on it. He forced his way onto the team. You know what I like about that? Is that it does frame the team as a meritocracy, where if you're the best players, you will get to keep playing.

I don't care that you're the 19-year-old. You are the best players you will get to keep playing i don't care that you're the 19 year old you are out playing people you get to keep playing and that sets the stage for the team sounds sounds nice but it's not really true no no because you pick and choose when you want to do that yeah you know it's not across the board right it really isn't or else you're going to start looking like you don't really know what you're doing. But should it not be in the regular season? Like let your good players, the guys who are go and go? I think for many reasons. And I'm not discounting the training camp he's had or his ability to make people take notice.

But, you know, the key word that I got out of that clip was this is a reward. And I think to your point, every once in a while you need to send that message even though it's not equal for everybody. And it'll be interesting to see how long this thing goes. And, you know, we've talked, you know, over the last few years about 10 being a magic number because it burns a year off the contract. But let's just see how the rest of the week shakes out starting tonight. And I like him. I get the upside.

But for him still, and at times, I mean, the frame needs to fill out JB. He's a big boy. He's a big boy, but he's still a boy. That's not a man body tonight. And he may have the IQ, and it's been well documented. The guy knows where to stand. Babs loved that, didn't he? And knew to be in the right place at the right time.

But there's going to be times when he's going to be physically challenged in that third slot, and you just wonder, again, how long can he hold his own in this scenario? And if you need to send him back in a in a week or two it's not a bad message to send yeah throughout the hockey club that you you can be rewarded i think you're right i think it's the most likely outcome is that he gets a reward for playing really well gets an opportunity he's back in a couple of weeks i can see that happening let me ask you do you not think he should be a little bit nervous for tonight have you heard some of his quotes which essentially he's like ah there's a hockey game

like i'm a hockey player do you want to listen like because i mean you can read it and you can maybe he's putting on a voice but if you listen to this clip and derrick you have it ready like he actually doesn't seem nervous we can play it yes let's listen to frazier mitten i'm excited i'm happy to get the opportunity to go out there tonight and play a meaningful game. How much family and friends are in town? My parents and then my grandparents made it out. Does this feel real? Yeah, it does. Does it feel like a dream?

Not really, no. No, it feels real, yeah. I don't know if I like that. What do you want me to say? Yeah, I'm really nervous? Well, I think there's some human element in there that, yeah. I mean, yeah, I get being nervous. Yeah, I don't think it was a canned comment.

I think it was his first reaction was, no, let's play. And I think it speaks to how he's been able to carry himself up until this point i i i think it's all real uh my issue with him would be again just to be able to physically handle uh being in a in a in a checking role situation from here on in have you ever been that confident in your life? You probably have. In your life in anything? I mean, this guy scored 60 in the O, buddy.

Yeah, can you imagine some kipper's comments the year he scored 60? Just knowing I was working with you guys two years ago probably, you know, was the most confident I've ever been. Confidence probably took a hit knowing you were being paired with us. Is that the level I'm on now? Yeah, I mean, it's great, right?

That gives you the best chance to succeed under the bright lights. It doesn't faze you. It's just another hockey game for him, but it's baffling to me. So I'm hesitant to bring this up, but this is very relevant news and something that's been talked about too much, and it is breaking news, so I will bring it up. Oh, boy. This is from Lance Hornby, Post media hall and oats are out oh leafs confirm they will change goal song uh to a selection of three or four tunes based on an original on original six games

next generation throwback thursdays and a regular standard to be unveiled tonight. Oh my God. This is the exact news story. That's a huge deal to you and me. The Kipper doesn't care about it. This is a big story. Did you even know there was a song after this? This is an embarrassing conversation right here.

This is. It is. Are you kidding me? It's embarrassing right now. I'm embarrassed for anybody and anyone that would spend longer than 30 seconds talking about this. This matters. Who cares?

People care. That song has been associated with failure. Oh, Elliott Friedman cares. I didn't like it either, but I don't care. At the end of the day, it doesn't factor into wins and losses. I didn't care either, but people do care. Like I really like whatever they scored, who cares what song they play. You should be happy they scored.

You shouldn't be caring that much about the goal song. But I do think it's like kind of associated with an air of, you know, It turned into, from what I heard at Under the Roof of MLSC. On the goal song? Yeah, they've like done focus group testing. It's a thing. It was a sore subject. Really?

And very sensitive. Like, for the record, great song, Hall & Oates. Like, just hearing the fact that they had meetings on this. It's been actual time. Drives me bananas. What do you want them to do? Just play grunts after the goal? Somebody just say it's in or out and live with it and move on.

That's all. Longer than five minutes means that you're not focusing on more important things. I know, but okay, I'm going to spend one more minute on this. Have you not been in a building where the opposing team has some sort of goal song where you're getting lit up and the song keeps playing United Center for a while and the Blackhawks were good? Devastating for the Canucks, right? Ask Roberto Luongo about that song.

That song would give you nightmares. It can be a psychological thing. How about just figuring out why you're getting lit up first? That's probably a place to start. It's probably not the song's fault. Do you want to move on? All right, we're good.

You really interrupted our show for that breaking news from lance love lance but it's only been the most talked about thing all summer on leafs twitter and my friends and everybody it's a massive thing it matters anyways we can talk about the leafs now sorry all right um any uh one last thought on minton yes matth Matthew Nyes and Yarncroft. Does that have a chance to stick? Is Nyes, you know, with all this talk about Minton, has Nyes been a little bit under the radar on expectations and what you think he can become? Is he slotted well with Minton?

Why not Tavares? become is he is he slotted well with minton or would why not tavaris why not put him in a position to see if he can score 40 50 points i will say i would like to see nize play with one of the leafs elite players like i feel like he drives the drives possession in a positive way he can finish he four checks like he's a good player you know what's he going to do with minton and cali yarn crock to me you strip him of the offensive part of his game to start the season the one thing i do like is that you set the bar low for him and give him the opportunity to work up which in the past it hasn't worked for nick ritchie starting on the top line it hasn't worked for joe thornton starting on the top line he has the chance to work his way up which i like but i hope over the course of this year this is not a line where that's where matthew nize is slotted in all of a sudden he's a 30 point guy who's not going to

kill penalties he's not going to be that useful in a spot like this to me cali ironcrock scored 20 goals last year by the way yeah i don't think it's gonna be long before nize is firmly in the top six from everything both of us all of us saw in the preseason i mean he's bigger stronger faster i think there's a pretty good chance he's going to be playing in the top six pretty quickly. Do you think... Decent regular season player. Who? Jaron Kroc.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Playoffs, no bueno. He is nowhere to be seen. Nowhere to be seen. Do you think they told Max Domi, like, come here, part of the reason to come here is that we'll give you this shot to play in the top six with some of you guys? I think it was a mention that you can compete for it. I don't think there was any promises.

Could that be why Nyes is there and Domi's on the second line? Or do you think it's just... No, I would not... I wouldn't think for one second that the only reason Nyes is with Minton and Yarncroft tonight is because they promised Maxy uh a spot on the top six for the first game or the first week or for the whole season i it would they would be crazy to have painted themselves in that uh that corner yeah that's probably not a useful negotiating tool for gm to tell a guy where he's gonna play you don't know once you're there so it'll be the line i've got

eyes on the most for sure is the nize minton yarn croc affair so while everybody thought nize would have been penciled in on the top line with matthews and marner it is bertuzzi and everybody saw that the moment the second it was announced that bertuzzi was coming to the Toronto Maple Leafs on a one-year deal. He will start there tonight on the top line. You want to go to Tree Living and his comments first before we react? Let's hear it. Brad Tree Living on Bertuzzi as his number one left winger.

Chemistry, you never know, right? It's like the ingredients you put in this should taste really good. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, right? I think it's still a little bit of a work in progress, but I think the attributes fit, right? He goes to the net. He's a dog on the bone of the puck. He keeps plays alive.

He hunts pucks. He finds pucks in and around the paint. One thing with Tyler that I think is underrated, he's got a great short game. If we're using a golf analogy, he can make little plays, like under sticks, through feet, in and around the blue paint. And he's playing with two guys that are pretty good at finishing off the short game. So I think there's been you know it's early

like they're building some chemistry but I you look at it on paper you think it could work and now we get to see you know now we get to see it in real life and see where it goes sounds good it does sound good full disclosure I love that analogy about the short game in golf and I was like I'm putting that in there

had to make the cut but I do love the idea that he can make small area plays because mitch and austin do that exceptionally well okay again not to make too much out of the preseason but he had three games with austin and mitch and we haven't we we didn't see any of that that he's speaking of and do we expect it to kind of be a light switch here or it will it take more time as brad alluded to yeah i don't know it's interesting because you know morgan riley had some comments too where he said he didn't know how talented bertuzzi was like he knew he was a good player but didn't know like the skill aspect of his game so he's obviously impressed

people there internally you're right in the games he didn't exactly show out but you know he scored 10 points in a seven game elimination of the bruins last year he showed he can do it when the chips are down so like you know it's there it's just i am curious to see one thing that has made that line so effective in the past is having a guy like hyman to go get the puck you know like i don't think bertuzzi's a skater or four checker quite the way that a guy like hyman was for them so i'm curious if they'll be able to do that i know marner turns the puck over exceptionally well and so does austin but will bertuzzi be as effective in that regard in getting them pucks to play with god they should have paid hyman yeah boy a couple of 20 a couple of 20 goal seasons for Bertuzzi in Detroit,

which led him two years ago to score 30 goals and 62 points. Everybody assumed once he was signed, if the vision was with Matthews and Marner, that could turn into 80. It should turn into 80 points, shouldn't it? If you assume that you're playing with two bonafide 100-point guys, should Bertuzzi... Yeah, and he's been on losing teams, right?

Where is the disappointment for Bertuzzi? 50 points? And where is the cutoff line that if you're going to play with them, you need to be scoring 30 goals at a minimum. It's clear because you're the bunting replacement. Bunting was a 50 to 60 point guy. They had a guy who got 50 to 60 points. Now they weren't paying bunting five and a half million.

They're paying you five and a half million. So yeah, 70 points is, I would say, a reasonable floor expectation. The other aspect is is can he do some aspect of what bunting did create space for those other two guys but also be the guy to stick up for them you know where bunting you know no disrespect to a good canadian boy that a lot of us like you know we thought he was a bluffer at times right like i will bertuzzi be a guy who's a little more will he stand in there a bit more yeah that's fair no no no no question and i think i mean he certainly looks like i think bunting squeeze it looks like he found his equipment he's a greasy looking individual yes bunting squeeze everything he he he could out out of matthews and marner that

led him to a contract with carolina at? 12 million bucks. I think more, I think four and a half times three. We don't love, I don't, I don't love 14 probably. I don't love getting Dubas credit for a ton of things, but that was an excellent signing for what, for what they got from him for the money.

Yeah. Like he got full value from that contract. So there's some pressure on Bertuzzi to be better than Michael Bunting was way way better yes they're paying him the salary of five buntings six that would be a horrible hockey team to watch five but thanks not enjoyable no that would not be fun yeah but yes excited about it excited about seeing that yeah and if if uh if bertuzzi can get to maybe close to a point a game if he has a career year at 75 80 then does that not rocket Marner and Matthews to be in the now 110 115 range yeah I think that's it you know we're gonna go ahead and set the bar high for these guys this year like Austin Matthews cannot be a 40 goal guy you just

can't you know you you won the heart trophy two years ago you know the the leading scorer in the league outscored you by 24 last year he needs to be a yeah 110 point guy mitch has got to blow past the you know 99 97 he's been stuck this is a year where the expectations are higher for them to be call him the second best line in the league if McDavid and Dreisaitl are playing together. Maybe even better. All right, let's go to Sheldon Keefe. We had him on the show yesterday live.

But the most fun we have with Sheldon is when we can pick apart his clips. When we can cherry pick the ones we want and edit them appropriately. When we can mold the narrative, boys. Alright, let's go to John Klingberg, who will be in the lineup tonight

as expected. Sheldon Keith. Disruption to Klingberg's camp with his injury. Do you have him on a pitch count to start the year? Or how do you approach it? No, he's an experienced guy. We're planning to use him the same way that we had coming into preseason and all of that.

Obviously, we haven't seen it as much ourselves, you know, as much as we'd want to to learn more about him and him learn about us and his teammates and all of that. So I think we have to be mindful of that as he's still adjusting. But in terms of how we'll use him going into the game, we'll use him as be intended, which is regular shift at 5-on-5 and being a part of our power play. Expected to be with McCabe tonight.

What a weird pairing, right? Like, are they just like, Jake, you stay near end. The season hasn't even started. You want to break them up already? Is it on the stream? It's like the most offensive guy in the league and the most defensive guy like well i shouldn't even say that mccabe will rush up ice yeah he does some my hot take for the year is mccabe gets like eight goals this year or something or maybe 10 okay that is a hot take but i i don't really see the fit i mean i don't necessarily see the More offense out of McCabe? I don't want it.

I just think he's going to, you know, there were times last year where you're like, he's below the hat. Why is he behind the net? So it's official, then he didn't really replace Muzzin. No, he did not. But is it not a strange pairing? Like, unless they think that McCabe can be a little bit more responsible, let Klingberg roam.

To me, it's like for Klingberg, he's making $4.1 million. If he improves their power play, that's good value. If he doesn't, what do we do with this guy? You know, like, is he just going to break the puck out a lot for them? What would you say you do here? That is the question. God, if they ask that question in two weeks, that's a big miss. I mean, Keefe must feel the same way we do.

Like, he's seen him play in one hockey game with the team. Like, I don't feel like I have any gauge on what he is as a player with the Leafs. Like, I've seen him play with the Ducks. I saw him play with the Wild where he wasn't very good last year. But, like, in this system with different guys, it's got to be a pretty, like, a little bit worrying if you're Keefe heading into this game

with no idea what you're going to get. It's just something that we haven't really looked at much. I do think he has a chance to get a lot of points, right? Like, their power play was 26% last year. Sounds like they're going to run a lot of it low. He'll be the distributor. Hand it in to Mitch and grab your second assist and get your 60 points.

I mean, that's the way it works for Klingberg. That's the way he's a success at 4.1 is if he gets 50 or 60 points there's some times when you looked at that power play and you you went wow much like edmonton's but there's other times when it can look pretty predictable yeah i thought you guys know how i feel riley slows it down would you not i think there's others that slow it down too uh i thought last year austin matthews slowed it down yeah yeah in terms of like catching the puck in the wall yeah he just stopped when he shot it in the net they seem to be blocked a lot more yeah um a lot of things didn't get to the net. You know, not to talk about Tampa,

but I'm watching their power play last night still. And if I would compare it to the Leafs movement, it's not even close. Like, the Leafs aren't even close. The way I watched Tampa Bay move the puck on the power play. And can Klimberg come and make it faster and less predictable? If he does, I think he's got a chance to get some points on it. It's just so strange, right?

Like their power play was the second best in the league. The Tampa Bay's was right there with them. They were two. Tampa was three. They're the best. But when it came to adjusting on it and teams reading it better as the season progressed, I think it's always been an issue for the Leafs is that they don't make these in-game adjustments in time. This is where you can sell me on Klingberg over Riley

is that when you don't have a threat at the top, you're so limited because you always know the puck is going to one of the flanks. And when you always know it's going to one of the flanks the guy at the top dusts it every time it's very easy to defend so yes i'm eager to see if they could be a little bit different a little bit more unpredictable boucher wants to run it low we'll see if they can keep up with the oilers this year get to 30 i saw a highlight reel of him on the power play of clingbird like it was like from his time in dallas and his time and wherever else like he is totally dynamic on the power play yeah like in terms of his vision

he's got a real shot like he does the the shot as well he also he does that mike green thing where he can freeze the guy in front like a lot of look off passes like he's really good up there yeah so but the other side is the scary part yeah the other side's scary and also they've been good so that's yeah i thought uh i thought the lily pad had a pretty good training cap he must hate that nickname i don't you know like so sam and i were talking you were taking a call earlier sam and i were just saying like my frustration with lilligren is not that he didn't have a good camp remember he had a good stretch last year where he was one of their best players it's if he's six feet tall and not that big and he's so he's not a defensive bruising type guy and he's not an offensive type guy every year we get to the playoffs and go well who can we take

out and it's been him every time so what what's changing? God, if they're taking him out, then there's some bigger issues. I think he has to be an automatic top four, 20-plus minute guy. Yeah, this is the year he has to take the leap, right? Yeah. We've talked about him being in and out and kind of on the fringes.

This is the year that he's got to, need them they're leaning on him well justin hall killed i don't know 4 000 minutes and penalties for them last year and someone's got to kill those minutes got one piece of credit no just taking a war of extra slappers on the ankle beating and getting it off the glass and out every game well that one turnover one time crushed on retrievals just we Just bruised up. Oh, I did hate that contract. Yeah, fair. Expected Allen in net for the Montreal Canadiens tonight

and Samsonov, who if you had to pick one guy that probably had the most disappointing camp, would he be at the top of your list? It's tough to gauge guys in training camp, isn't it, in preseason goaltending? But he did not look good no he didn't you know last year in the playoffs he was an 898 save percentage he was a below replacement level goaltender for them in the postseason where yeah i for the record i think he looked fine mostly in the postseason but he didn't look like a guy who could carry them through when things weren't

going perfectly and yeah now a tough preseason there's some pressure on him and 3.55 one year if we went back this time last year matt murray was the number one goalie he was yeah samsonov you know had no pressure on him's kind of the presumed backup. Yeah, it was all upside, and he played well enough, had a good thing going. He ended up with a 9-19 last year. It was really good, by and large. But, you know, when he gets a little active

and he gets a little antsy in these big moments, and now he's the guy. He's played 40 games once in his career, maybe once in Washington it didn't go well, so twice in his career. Now you're looking at him to play 60 when you talk about when you talk about these these these goalies that are talented enough to be number one but they're not and they've they can have good stretches but

they can never turn themselves into career number one goalies he may be one of them now now the mindset to start this season is you're it. And with all due respect to Disco Dan, who led us into this show, I think his last comment before our show started was, I expect Joseph Wall to be the starting goalie in the playoffs. And he's not the first one to say that. There's a lot of people out there that expect Wall to be in there,

which I think, again, is, listen, there's nothing that you've seen from Joseph Wall that would make you such an expert to be super confident that he's going to be there in game one and no questions asked like if you said i've got my fingers and toes crossed that he will be i'd have more respect for you because then you're just right in there with uh i hope yeah but to sit there and talk confidently that joseph wall's gonna walk in here after how many games in the NHL? He's played 15 games.

11 regular season games in his career. And definitively say, like, you know, go back. Like, why don't we just go back and talk Justin Pogge, for God's sake. Oh, jeez. Seriously. And I'm not calling him Justin Pogge. What I'm telling you is, like, you know, come on. No, jeez. Seriously, and I'm not calling him Justin Pogge. What I'm telling you is, like, you know, come on. No, I know.

And I think, you know, I was asked this morning on the morning show with Ben and Gunnar who the biggest whipping boy on this Leafs team was going to be. And I said, I predicted that it might be Samsonov. People are eager for it to be Wall, right? I think that's what I mean. I think there's a lot of homegrown stuff with Wall where, they kind of has he was finished the season with him he was okay in the playoffs samson of one year deal hasn't really like you said the pressure flip like

it was a little bit nasty in the we freed wrote about how it was a little bit nasty in the arbitration thing confidence shaken bad preseason history of like there's a lot of things here that are trending in the wrong direction. But with Samsonov, it was always in Washington that he was a super talented guy who didn't take the off-ice side of hockey seriously. And then he came to Toronto, grew up a little. Did he have a kid last year or something?

I think so. It was like his off-ice life. Yeah, there were some issues off the ice. Right. And the word last year was that he had cleaned those things up. He was taking himself seriously as a pro, and now he was going to be able to reach his potential. I don't know that an imperfect playoff run

in a couple of preseason games invalidates that. So, you know, maybe this is a guy here that's going to come out and live up to the hype and get his 5x5 by Christmas. It's far from a sure thing, at least goaltending. For sure. All right. This goaltending conversation isn't ending here. We're going to take a quick break, and we're going to welcome in Jim Ralph,

Toronto Maple Leaf radio color analyst. We're going to get into more on, is Samsonov ready for the challenge, being the number one goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs. After the break, more Real kipper and born the toronto re beliefs are set to get going tonight and we've got it all on the rogers sportsnet platforms let's welcome in Jim Ralph, also getting ready to call the game. He's a radio color analyst. Ralphie, breaking news, of course.

The Leafs have changed their goal song. Any thoughts of maybe postponing the game tonight just to reminisce? No, you know, I think they just got to go out and get puck steep and win the one-on-one battle and get traffic in front, you know? All right, thanks for having us. Thanks for coming on. I don't know if you caught any of our show going into break. I'm sure you had better things to do, quite frankly.

But the topic is samsonov and how things have changed a year later this time last year the talk was you cannot take over the net with a guy that's won two stanley cups uh we know matt murray's gone we know wall doesn't have two stanley cups do you think there's a chance that it's playing on him at all as he starts tonight's journey? I don't know if that's fine. I mean, some guys need to be pushed and have competition. Other guys just need to know that if I have a bad game,

I'm back in the next night. I don't have to play for ice time. But I might make a prediction, Kipper, that a year from now we're going to be talking about the same thing. We're talking about how Joseph Wall was the backup coming in. I mean, I really believe that

that's going to be one of the more interesting storylines is what happens in that. I mean, Samsonov was great at home last year, but I really like Joseph Wall, what we've seen of him so far and even in the playoffs last year so i think that that could be interesting to see if uh samsonoff gets the freddie anderson treatment where it's freddie's our guy and it doesn't matter what the other guy

does or or whether it becomes a competition because i uh i can certainly see joseph ball pushing samsonoff ralphie you spent your career trying to keep pucks out of the net, looking at this Toronto Maple Leafs team. I have some question marks about that being a strength of their team this year. They were seventh in goals against last year. They lose a bunch of PK guys and Justin Hall and Alex Kerfoot. Defensively, Klingberg is not exactly a stout addition.

How do you feel about this team's ability to collectively as a team play defense, rather than having a bunch of defensive minded players? Well, first of all, I'm relieved morning because you said I tried to keep bucks out of the net, but you had some questions.

So I'm glad to question. Fair. At a hockey DB was the worst thing ever invented. It was a different time, Ralphie. Yeah. I invented. I'll tell you that much. It was a different time, Ralphie. Yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting to see as it goes on. I mean, it's kind of gone back to the more skilled puck-moving blue line. I mean, I really think they've got to, you know,

manage the ice time for Mark Giordano. And if that means, you know, every third or fourth game he sits out, you know, I think you've got to be careful that he's not burnt out for the postseason. But you're right, that toughness that they've had, whether it was, you know, Luke Shen coming in or Bogosian, you know, for Jake McCabe to be, you know, the lone guy that might be able to level the opposition coming over the blue line, doesn't make you, I think, fall in love with what could happen in the postseason, but it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Klingberg certainly is, you know, you hope he gets back to where he was three or four years ago as opposed to the last couple of years, but it'll be interesting to see whether, you know, the team defense can maybe bail out the guys in the blue line. Speaking of Klingberg, we expect him to line up with McCabe tonight. Is this simply a scenario where we expect McCabe to say, you go do your thing, I'll be back here to watch your back? Yeah, we've seen that, eh?

Kipper, when Morgan Riley had his best year, he was playing with Ron Hainsey. You know, you kind of take the offensive guy with the stay-at-home guy. I know we used to joke growing up as kids that if you were defensive and you weren't very good, you were Gary Doak who played with Bobby Orr, and he just let Bobby Orr go and basically stood back in front of his own net and waited.

So, yeah, I think that's kind of the mentality, especially with Klingberg. I mean, they give him a bit of a break, although I think he was minus 28 last year in Dallas. But Anaheim last year was a tough sled for everybody involved. So you hope that maybe he feels that he needs a little more security and somebody's got his back if he does jump up into the play. Ralphie, do you think the toughness that they brought in,

in Reeves and Domi and Bertuzzi, different types of toughness, do you think that changes the character, mentality of this team in any way? Yeah, because I think you're looking at three different lines. At least you've got that element, whether it's, you know, a Ty Domi type or whether it's a Darcy Tucker type where you've got guys that play with just a little bit of a chip on their shoulder and a little bit of an edge.

I don't know if it was just Ryan Reeves. You might look at it as Kyle Clifford and Wayne Simmons before him where the intentions were good, but then the ice time doesn't match what they were brought in for. So that's where I think the Domi Bertuzzi at least gives you a little more grit. And I think it certainly takes Bertuzzi's numbers in Boston in the seven-game series, when he had 10 points in the seven games.

I think that's really sort of the long-term goal, is that these are the guys that you want to be able to grind through the postseason, but it'll be... I do like the fact that it's not one guy that's supposed to add toughness. You've added a little bit of grit on three different lines. We're talking to Jim Ralph,

of course, the radio color analyst for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ralphie, just to touch on the added grit, you know, with these guys, will they be proactive a little bit more on that grit, or is it just there when you need it? Will we see a different look to maybe style of play

that we've been, Leaf fans may have missed the last few years. Yeah, I mean, I'd like to see them be more the aggressor, Kipper. And if that means you're the one that's snowing the goalie after a whistle or pushing and shoving after instead of having to respond to that, I think you'd like to see a little more that these guys are the aggressor and they're going to get in your face first and force you to react. And I think that's sort of been the character of this team the last few years

where we're talking about how they react to what's going on as opposed to initiating. So you would certainly hope that with those guys on the ice that you're a little more the hard team to play against rather than the Leafs worrying about how they respond to a team that's got some toughness. So what do you make of this Montreal Canadiens opponent they've got here tonight?

You know, they've been near the bottom of the league in just about everything for a while. They've been frustrating for the Toronto Maple Leafs who haven't been able to just collect their points against them. You know, what are you looking for in tonight's matchup, you know, to set the tone for in tonight's matchup um you know to set the tone for this year's leafs habs rivalry well you know what i think morny is is for me it's it's not just montreal i think one of the biggest improvements needs to be uh playing better against

teams that that are below you or non-playoff and uh you know and i'm not saying like just get an overtime loss against Arizona this year and everybody will be happy for the point. I think that to really be a true contender, you've got to be able to handle teams like Montreal and Arizona. And it's not disrespect to them, but you've got the talent. And as long as you don't get outworked, you should win the majority of the games.

I think Boston lost, what, one or two games against unplayed off teams last year. I mean, they didn't lose to anybody, but they just dominated teams that were out of the playoff picture and I think from a Leafs standpoint, that's what you'd like to see a little more of, where they're not playing down to their

opponent, that they're winning games 4-1, 5-1, and just taking care of business and getting it done instead of having to answer those questions. Why can't you beat Arizona? Why do you struggle against San Jose? I think a dominant team should dominate games like this tonight. The Leafs' number one line throughout training camp didn't dominate,

and I'm talking Bertuzzi matthews and marner just your thoughts of covering those three exhibition games and what you didn't see and what you expect to see tonight or in the next few weeks and if it doesn't come early here uh ralphie uh how long before we maybe see a switch between Bertuzzi and, say, Matthew Nyes? You know, it's a good question, because I'm trying to place exactly when Michael Bunting ended up with Matthews and Marner. Well, I mean, Marner was with the Baris a lot last year as well,

but it seemed to be about a month in before that combination finally got put together and the Leafs found some success with it. So I'm guessing probably two to three weeks. But what you would like to think, and again, with all due respect to Michael Bundy, Tyler Bertuzzi should be a slight upgrade over that. So that's on paper. It's going to be interesting to see him at gel.

As far as the preseason goes, I'm pretty realistic in the sense that I used to play in those games. So I don't know if there's that before. Ralphie, have a great call tonight to open up the season. And please send at the Scotiabank Arena from the Real Kipper and Boren show our deepest condolences to Hall and Oates. I'll talk to people.

I've got to sign autographs in the next little while. You have no idea how hard it is to get people to stop. Jim Ralph. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Ralphie. Radio color analyst for the Toronto Maple Leafs. A couple of points that stood out for me

just talking to Ralphie. The first one is Domi Reeves and Bertuzzi and how proactive will they be right from puck drop or to his point? You know, you don't really want to see the Leafs just keep doing what they've been doing all these regular seasons and then thinking that they're going to flip a switch in the playoffs. It doesn't work that way. Yeah, I'd mostly like to see the guys who are, you know,

they make $10 million plus, you know i'll lump willie in with that i would like them to say you can't take liberties on me leon dry sidle in playoffs they were all over him and he was just like i'm going to take a baseball chop at patrangelo you know like you need to let people know that you just won't take it and i think there's enough guys to back those guys up they're old enough they're big enough i'd like to see him take a couple of swings themselves here and there just to say we're not doing that this year i'll sit out a game that's fine just don't do that to me oh sometimes there's a good suspension to be taken sure early in a year like this would probably be a good time um i have a trivia question if we're turning the page on that sam you got a comment on the

toughness at all or well i'm just i've mentioned this ever since the day Max Domi signed with the Leafs, but the 10-game suspension for wires crossing Domi is looming, fellas. You got a big one coming for Max? The passion that unites us all, the wires are going to cross. It unites his wires. It may even happen tonight. He took a penalty 13 seconds into his first shift as a Leafs. His first game, you know, he grew up around this team it's canadians it's night one toronto listen buddy there is a big time chance i know but it happens this evening at the same time someone that

once upon a time played a little bit of that role you you can't go out there and do something stupid like there's such a fine line buddy david clarkson these guys want it right away right where's dave right now that didn't work out for dave right rich but not happy okay rich but not but not but not making important decisions on the ice anymore no i know so you don't want to start off with a parade to the penalty box and i think we did our, the last Montreal preseason game against the Leafs we did. And it was a, it was a bad call on,

on Max, but you could just sense there's people waiting for him to be stupid and come back and give every reason in the world why it was a stupid signing. And, you know, that's not, it's not going to help him play i want to see him play and be aggressive and do all the things you're doing uh without

being detrimental that's got to be the hardest part about being a tough guy who's also offensively talented and i mentioned nick richie earlier he struggled with it here how much do i focus on playing hockey versus showing them that i do have this element bunting that was his whole game was trying to walk that line as a toronto maple leaf and that seems to be the challenge for the guys here is how much to focus on what i'm just i'm just saying boys there's a chance all right something stupid happens tonight fraser minton tonight will be the eighth toronto make-believe to uh crack the leafs lineup as a teenager since 2013-14 eight he's the eighth so what other players crack the Leafs lineup as teenagers in the past well nine years yeah yeah yeah right so with Minton there's four yeah uh Riley how many Riley, just... That pretty much takes away all their top ten picks.

Current guys, yeah. So we got to go... Robertson. Go deeper. Nick Robertson, six. Yeah. Two more. And I won't hold up the show with this.

Defenseman? No. Oh, one defenseman, one forward. Yep, my bad. I can't think. Neither of them play for the team anymore. Just tell me. Sandin.

Oh, duh. Kasperi Kapanen. Oh, I wouldn't have got Kapanen to be obvious. I don't play for the team anymore. Just tell me. Sandin. Oh, duh. Kasperi Kapanen. Oh, I wouldn't have got Kapanen, but Sandin is an obvious one. Really? That's not an obvious one. Oh, yeah. I mean, he played for the team last year. It felt like he was with the Marlies for seven years.

Yeah. Sandin is, I see people predicting him to be like a 60-point guy with Washington this year, just dishing it to Ovi. Yeah. I went down for an alumni event and caught an exhibition game and he is still rasmus same old same old he's still sandy you don't want him back uh he just needs to learn how to play defense i think it's very hard when you're his size and you're physical because everything is head height right he eats elbows and sticks and he is a

physical guy but it's yeah i he may get a physical guy, but it's, yeah. He may get a lot of points there. It's not going to make anyone here, I think, miss him. You know, they got a great return for him, so. Yeah, first-round pick, which they turned into Eason Cowan, right? Yeah. And then, yeah, who everyone loves. Damn near made the team this year.

Everyone loves, and then they got Gustafson, who was exciting. He was a thrill he was electric player you see another close game tonight like uh ralphie talked about it playing down to your opponents uh did pitt do that last night against chicago pitt's just one of those teams that like they remind me of calgary in the past couple years where you know they have so many good players and it's just like there's just not this like i don't know they don't have the electricity or something value on the habs tonight is what all i'm saying yeah is this a huge statement game to get rid of that we play down to our opponent game for the leafs so it is the

first game tonight and you're there's they're still fine. Yeah. No same old, same old? I'll say. I mean, it would be the first step down a long road. Let's put it that way. All right, we're going to take a quick break here, and we'll tee it up nationally on the Real Kipper and Bourne show. Plenty to get into, including Conor Bedard's debut, and I'll tell you what I didn't like about Connor

Bedard. Oh no. I'm ready to go on this one. Alright, we'll take a quick break and we'll tee it up on the top of the hour on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show.